Ana Ivanovic moves further in Cincinnati + declines Rogers Cup wildcard
World No.62 Ana Ivanovic followed up her first round upset of Victoria Azarenka with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Yaroslava Shvedova at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Cincinnati. It’s Ivanovic’s first back-to-back win since the tournament in Rome in May when she reached the semifinals.
Ivanovic’s next opponent will be world No.49 Elena Vesnina, who advanced by upsetting fifth seed and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4 6-4. If Ivanovic manages to overcome Vesnina, she could potentially face top seed and fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals.
Another breaking piece of news about Ivanovic is that she hasdeclined a wild card into the main draw of the Rogers Cup. The former champion had her initial request turned down several weeks ago and was supposed to play qualifying. Tournament director Eugene Lapierre offered Ivanovic a wildcard on Tuesday but the Serb didn’t want to accept it, partly because it doesn’t fit her schedule any more and partly because she was offended by the director’s comments.
I would have loved to have played in Montreal, but I was quite hurt by the comments of Mr Lapierre that I was shown in The Montreal Gazette recently.
I don’t think his comments were necessary, and they contradicted everything he had told my management previously: that I was not getting a wild card because I am not Canadian.
The fact that my original request was turned down isn’t really an issue: I would have been happy to play qualifying, but I felt that they kind of stepped over the line with this interview, making public our correspondence and even misrepresenting it. Unfortunately I don’t feel welcome at this tournament.
Anyway, I am playing New Haven in a week or so, and I am currently at my third straight event (Cincinnati). Even though I haven’t played many matches, the training and travel take their toll, and I think this is the right decision to make, for several reasons.
(photo: © Neal Trousdale)
